1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information terminal which is capable of being installed with functions distributed for carrying.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Application No. 2001-189912, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various types of portable information terminals such as a notebook-type personal computer, a PDA, a portable telephone and the like have become rapidly and widely available. Along with this, a variety of functions installed on portable information terminals for information processing have become rapidly enhanced.
However, with the explosive progression of information technology, a disparity between persons in the degree of successful usage of the information terminals has widened, which has raised the serious problem associated with the so-called “digital divide” in which persons unskilled in handling the information terminals are falling behind in society in terms of jobs, income and the like.
In the future, with the diversification of the needs of society, a portable information terminal alone must be increasingly required to meet the miscellaneous needs, e.g., communication, transmission and collection of information, accumulation and editing of information, electronic commerce, and controls for other devices. For this requirement, a multifunction design for portable information terminals will need to be further progressed to increase the number of available functions, and in consequence the manipulation thereof will be further complicated, which must make the problem of the “digital divide” even more significantly serious.
In addition, such progress in multifunction design will enable a single portable information terminal to accumulate various kinds of information including personal information, which produces another serious problem of how to ensure security when a high volume of information accumulated is carried around.